Thrillist Thrillist
  • Watch
  • Food & Drink
  • Travel
  • Entertainment
  • Cities
Thrillist
  • Watch
  • Food & Drink
  • Travel
  • Entertainment
  • Cities
  • view search area view search area

    Popular Searches

    • New Orleans
    • Las Vegas
    • San Francisco
    • Chicago

    Top Results

Thrillist
  • view navigation area
  • view search area view search area view search area
Travel

Is this the perfect public bench?

By Chloe Pantazi Published On 05/12/2014
@ChloePantazi
By Chloe Pantazi @ChloePantazi Published On 05/12/2014
  • Share on Facebook
  • Tweet this article
  • Pin it
  • Email
people on bench
All images courtesy of Factory Furniture

Public benches: They're simultaneously a lunch table, a cot, a trash can, and a spray-paint canvas. Sometimes a seat, too. But one bench in London is trying to put an end to the non-seat nonsense.

Recommended Video
Drink
This Boozy Hot Cocoa Is 20 Pounds

related

The 15 most annoying travelers in the world
bench
  • Share on Facebook
  • Pin it

Designed by British contemporary street outfitters Factory Furniture, the Camden Bench is determined to deter delinquents from sleeping, defacing, and littering. An angular, uneven shape prevents trash from collecting anywhere on the bench's surface, and of course, not even a contortionist could get comfortable on the sharp lines. A lack of pockets or hiding places additionally thwarts potential drug dealers from using the bench as a dead drop.

woman on bench
  • Share on Facebook
  • Pin it

Made to seat the collective butt of the city's borough of Camden, as the eponymous name suggests, the bench is molded out of a resilient, exposed aggregate concrete; not even graffiti will stick. The designers even reckon it can prevent pickpockets from pinching billfolds if users slot their bags behind their legs under the bench's sloping, downward ridges.

friends on bench
  • Share on Facebook
  • Pin it

And taking into account the U.K.'s customary weather, rain slides right off the surface (along with any other unwanted liquids). But as with any public seat, don't think too much about what those liquids might be.

it's a bench
  • Share on Facebook
  • Pin it

While functional and utilitarian, the bench also cuts a brutal, callous form. As this Medium essay points out, because it looks and acts like nothing but a bench, this might be the perfect bench – but at the same time, decidedly, the most boring.

Chloe Pantazi is an editorial assistant on Thrillist's travel team. Yes, that’s a British accent. No, she doesn’t watch Doctor Who. Follow her on Twitter at @ChloePantazi.

  • Share on Facebook
  • Tweet this article
  • Pin it
  • Email
  • Food & Drink
  • Travel
  • Entertainment
  • Cities
    • Atlanta
    • Atlantic City
    • Austin
    • Boston
    • Charleston
    • Charlotte
    • Chicago
    • Cleveland
    • Dallas
    • Denver
    • Detroit
    • Hamptons
    • Honolulu
    • Houston
    • Indianapolis
    • Las Vegas
    • Los Angeles
    • Louisville
    • Memphis
    • Miami
    • Milwaukee
    • Minneapolis
    • Nashville
    • New Orleans
    • New York
    • Philadelphia
    • Phoenix
    • Pittsburgh
    • Portland
    • San Antonio
    • San Diego
    • San Francisco
    • Seattle
    • Washington DC
    • Amsterdam
    • Berlin
    • London
    • Montreal
    • Paris
    • Toronto
Thrillist

LIVE LIFE TO THE THRILLIST

  • Advertise With Us
  • Careers
  • Press
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms + Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • SnapChat
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

subscribe with your email

Group Nine Media

© 2019 Group Nine Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

  • Want More?
    Like Us
  • Share on Facebook
  • Pin it
  • Tweet this article
  • Share on Google+
  • Email